Undercover
by MovieGirl44
Summary: Everyone deserves a second chance. After Miles Axlerod was arrested for the Allinol scandal, he was recruited into the CHROME agency for a reason unknown to him. Can he handle going back into the organization he once founded? Axlerod redemption fic :). Rated T for death/safety.
1. Prologue

**A/N: Hi everyone! If any of you read my (incomplete) backstory of Holley, I mentioned that I'd be doing a fic about a certain evil character when I got the chance, so here it is! Please R&R! :) **

**(If I get the spelling or terminology wrong I apologize, I'm American so I don't know all of them)**

It was dark in the simulation; I always hated that because I could never see anything behind me or even in my peripheral vision, just what was illuminated in my headlamps. I couldn't tell, but I thought I was on my oil rig I had about a year ago. A year… is that all it takes? I saw the lemons coming out of the shadows. I had a holographic gun out and ready to fire, but I didn't exactly want to. The two in the lead were professor Z's main henchmen, Grem and Acer; I had grown to trust them during my time with them—they were dead now because of me. I backed up and then opened fire; I tried to keep in mind that they were just holograms, but it was too difficult. I still winced when they exploded, even if it was the third time I'd seen the exact same thing. I headed for the ramp, which was the only area on the rig that didn't fill up with lemons at this point. I sped towards the edge, where I was told a helicopter would catch me, and I jumped. The inside of it was open, and I saw Finn and Holley waiting for me. I landed inside and instantly the rig disappeared back into the dome it really was.

"Well done, Axlerod," Finn greeted me in his normal professional tone, "Another few weeks of performances like this and you'll be moved up a clearance level."

"Um, thanks," I said, still trying to get the simulation out of my mind, "If you don't mind me asking, why Grem and Acer for the leaders of the lemons?" I didn't like that last word, but I tried to contain my distaste.

"It's a random process," Holley jumped in, "they were well-known criminals, and even though they were both killed, they're still considered suitable opponents."

"But I've faced them for most, if not all of my recent simulations. Why not any others?"

"I'm not allowed to tell you," Holley replied, "Finn?"

"He doesn't have the clearance level yet," he said bluntly.

"Fine," I replied. Annoyed at them and at myself for not getting the clearance level I needed, I drove out of the dome and to my room. It was the only other place I was allowed to go besides the training room, so it was basically my refuge from anything and everything that has come my way over the past year. I've lost everything, but I've never felt so alive, and I don't know why. I'd broken more parts than I had in my entire life before, which is saying something. I looked out the window. I'd thought about breaking out of it, but I could never bring myself to. They'd brought me here because there were no other alternatives.

**A/N: Well, that's the prologue. I'm writing the first part right now, so when you read this it won't matter. It'll be up tonight :).**


	2. Chapter 1: What?

**A/N: This is the first chapter like I promised!**

It was the end of the World Grand Prix, that stupid tow truck, Mater I think, figured out that I was the main leader of the lemons. I was so close to succeeding in everything, but I had ordered Zundaap to put that bomb on him… not exactly my best call. My life as I knew it was going to end whether I deactivated it or not, so I decided to live. I just wish he hadn't pulled my hood open. When they towed me off, they refused to put it down, and I could see all of the cars they pulled me past laughing at me. They had laughed my whole life, but it felt worse because I had so much, and then I lost it all.

I was forced into the impound for a while (I lost track of the days). My knighthood was revoked, and then I was eventually found guilty of all of the crimes that I committed. It seemed that I would be heading to prison for life, but somehow I ended up at the CHROME academy. I didn't even know at first- they just handed me over to them.

Of course, no one else would come to get me but Finn McMissile. I still felt kind of guilty for the whole clock incident, and I'm sure he hadn't forgotten it. He never said a word to me, and then he practically shoved me into a plane, and made me stay in the lower part. He remembered. I stayed put for the duration of the flight, and when the plane landed Finn told me to simply follow him. There really wasn't another option for me at the time, so I did.

He led me into a small room that had no windows. The door closed automatically behind me, so there was really no escape. "You're probably wondering why you're here," he told me. I tried to respond, but he continued, "I'm wondering that myself. The government decided that you were too dangerous to put in a regular prison, so they told us at CHROME that we have to rehabilitate you. Which means," he paused for a moment, "you're going into training to be a spy," he said with a slight smile.

I didn't quite know what to say to that, so I sat there in dumbfounded silence, waiting for him to continue. Why was I even here?

"We're going to get you set up with a room here today. Don't worry, you'll be under armed guard, everyone's armed here, so don't try anything funny. Anyways, we're first going to go to the on-site mechanic to get you in top functioning condition. You're going to need it. Come on, then."

I followed him to another building, and then I was placed in the last room. I saw a crate off to the side that was open slightly. In it were all of the old things I had gotten rid of when I tried to convert to electric. No matter what's out in the press, I really did try at first. My engine wouldn't accept any of the changes it needed to, I don't think any lemons' do. It's a curse, really, but I faked it because I had to, not just so I could stay on the good side of Professor Z. I stared at the box for a minute, and I realized that they were going to change me back to how I looked before, which was the last thing I really wanted at the time.

I waited for a doctor to come in, and then I slipped out through the door, completely forgetting about the armed guards. I sped towards the door as fast as I could, but then I heard a loud crack and then steam flew into my eyes. _Wonderful_, my radiator pipe broke. I tried to keep driving, but it was in vain because I practically ran over one of the guards before braking and running into a wall, thankfully not really denting anything. They towed me back to the room and locked my back wheels to the lift in the center of the room. McMissile yelled at me, but I couldn't concentrate on what he was saying because the cloud of steam was giving me a hoodache. Apparently the anchors weren't enough to them, because they put some sort of sedative in my gas tank. Though drowsy, I could still tell what they were doing. They opened my hood first to try and clear the steam out. After that, I guess they found out that I was still partly conscious because they gave me more sedative, making everything go black.

When I finally came to, I wished I hadn't. I groaned, but I didn't think it was audible. McMissile apparently heard it, though, because he drove into the room right afterwards. "Well, you're up," he said, "How do you feel?"

"What did they do to me?" I asked, frightened. I knew they put the things I had before back on because I could feel the weight of the grill guard and my spare tire. My tires felt a lot lighter than before, so I assumed they changed my tires and possibly my rims, and I could feel the storage rack and reflectors on my roof. How did they find those? It felt strangely comforting, but something else was off.

"They just took all of the 'electric' modifications off of you and changed you back to the way you were before. I think they also opened some of your airways by adding larger pipes. Oh, and they added some weight to you, as well."

"Why would they do that?"

"You don't have the clearance level to know yet," he countered, "Are you ready to begin training?"

"Um, sure?"

"Great. Follow me, please."


	3. Chapter 2: The Lie Detector

I was getting sick of following him, but I did anyways. I started my engine, which was running much better thanks to the new pipes, and they apparently also took the muffler that was making me sound like an electric car off. I wasn't used to the extra noise, but I figured that I dealt with it before and I'd be able to deal with it again. It was harder to go the speed McMissile was insistent on going, so I hung back a little, trying to get used to the extra weight. When I finally got to the dome I was taken to earlier, I realized that it was set up like an outdoor racing track.

McMissile turned around to face me when I got closer to the track, "Okay, I need you to do 50 laps around this track."

I rolled my eyes but sped ahead of him and onto the track. The sooner it was over, the better. I went at a slower speed for the first lap or two, trying to get my bearings, and then I sped up. It was amazing to go that fast; I never really had a reason to go fast before then. I was probably on lap 27 or something like that when I saw the other spy, Holley Shiftwell, drive into the dome and talk to McMissile for some reason. At that point I was trying to figure out how drift on asphalt, but it didn't really work because of the friction, so I pretty much gave up on it. The two spies were in the center of the track now, talking about something, most likely me. I was on lap 45 when I heard something from Holley that almost made me stop in my tracks.

"I think he looks better that way, anyways."

What? There is no way I just heard that. I finished my remaining five laps and then drove over to the others.

"Finished already?"

"Yes."

"Alright, now you're going to come with me for another exercise," McMissile told me. I followed him to yet another room that had no windows. It had some sort of device in the middle of it. As I was about to ask him what it was, he responded, "Now, this is a lie detector. Not an ordinary one, it's actually the most advanced lie detector in the world, on loan from the U.N specifically for you. There is no way you can lie through it. A recording will ask you questions, some may be general knowledge, but others will be your opinion. Answer them as accurately as you can."

"Well, that takes the biscuit," I said under my breath.

"What?"

"Nothing," I lied. It was going to be a _lovely_ session. He hooked me up to the machine, which clipped onto 17 different parts of my engine, and then left the room.

Over the speakers, a female voice asked me several questions about trivial things, such as math questions and knowledge about the general workings of a car. I thought I got them all right, but I wasn't sure. Then came the question that stumped me, "What is your opinion of being a lemon?"

"Um…" I stuttered, "I think of it as both a physical and psychological condition, really. You can choose whether to try and bury your internal lemon or let it thrive within you. I told the other lemons to embrace it, while I buried it myself."

"Do you prefer lemons over other cars?"

"I try to think of all cars as equals…" I lied. A loud buzzing noise came from the machine.

McMissile came on over the speaker instead of the recording, "Try again." The buzzing stopped and I was allowed to change my answer.

"Alright, I guess I do prefer lemons over other cars."

The recording came on again, "Explain."

I paused for a moment. I can't lie, but I also can't explain it. "I think that cars that would be considered lemons are not treated equally by most other cars, so, being one, I try and help as many as possible because I didn't have that support when I was younger."

"What is your opinion of other cars that would not be considered lemons?"

_Blast,_ "I think they are more fortunate than lemons, but they take their fortune for granted more times than not." The lie detector didn't go off, but I guess what I said was a little true. I just wished that the questions would stop. I felt my engine getting hotter as they came, one after another about lemons and how I was faking being a different car than I was. The recorded voice was the most unnerving, keeping a cool tone throughout all of the questions. It made me want to scream.

"Would you have done the actions you did involving the Allinol scandal again if you had the option?"

No more. "Absolutely. Regular cars are the most gullible things on this planet; in fact, I would have made sure McQueen died on the last day if I knew that he wasn't going to. He and the other cars don't have to live with the humiliation the lemons do. We are the strongest force on this planet, and if I wasn't here right now I would have already broken out of jail to rule them once again!" I snapped, but regretted it soon after. Did I really mean that? The lie detector was silent, so I guess I did. I assumed it was the last question, because McMissile drove into the room and disconnected me from the machine. He didn't say a word, but stared at me in disgust. He was listening. He didn't lead me out of the room, but told me where to go from behind. I looked into my rear view mirror to see that he had a gun out, aimed at me.

He made me drive down a hallway, and at an intersection I saw Holley, who had tears in her windshield. I could tell she was trying to hide it, but she saw me and she had to turn around and drive in the opposite direction. McMissile guided me to a room that had a bed and a small window that was interlaced with wire. Once I was inside, the door closed behind me, leaving me only with my thoughts. I backed into the bed and thought about the day. I felt something hit my hood. A tear? No. Lemons don't cry. Never.


	4. Chapter 3: Estella

I woke up the next day, realizing that I had somehow fallen asleep. I looked out the small window and noticed that it was still dark outside. There was no clock in my room, so I had no idea what time it was. It was almost 4 hours before any light broke the horizon. As soon as it did, McMissile came into the room with a stern expression on his face. He already had his gun out and told me to go to the dome. It was already set up in the race track formation. "You will drive this track until sundown today; also, be careful, it's programed on random, so it may change the track on you."

I wasn't in the position to argue, so I drove the track until what I thought was about noon, when alarms began going off. Spies filled the dome, which almost immediately turned into a meeting room. McMissile was organizing the other spies, and apparently he told Holley to get me out of the room. Armed with her tazer, she told me to move. She then directed me to the room I spent the night in and almost pushed me in, the door sliding shut behind me.

After almost 2 hours (I thought), I was allowed back out into the dome to drive, except the course was now more hills and other off-road conditions rather than a flat track. After another hour or so of that, I was led into the same small room with no windows, but without the lie detector. Why was McMissile suddenly leading me again instead of chasing me with a gun? I found out when I entered. A Pacer was waiting on one side of the room. McMissile introduced her as Estella, which meant (if I remembered the very little of Latin I had learned over the years correctly) star, which made sense to me because she was painted a very dark midnight blue which sparkled in the light, like a star in the night. McMissile left the room and she began to speak.

"You probably haven't heard of me, but I'm CHROME's best deep cover agent to date. Finn himself brought me into the business, and helped me to see how I was wrong in seeing the world, which is why I'm here: to help you learn that illegal acts are not the answer."

"How do I know this isn't a trap?"

"Because I came from a similar situation. When I was much younger, I actually moved to France because my father got a job there. As always, I was teased for being a lemon. I ended up meeting Tomber, he's a three-wheeled car (no, I can't remember his model), but he got me into the spare parts black market. When he was impounded, I went into hiding, but I ran into Finn anyways. He had gotten Tomber out of the impound on the condition that he be his informer should he need him to be. Tomber had then told him about me and asked if I would be arrested for being an accomplice, knowing that Finn would have met me at some point, anyways. I don't know what happened between then and now, but somehow I ended up being recruited for CHROME. It took a while, but I eventually I began to realize that the cars here didn't care about what you looked like or where you came from, but what's inside and whether you love justice."

Her biography had broken the ice to me. Over the next few weeks and even months, I was taken to her every day by McMissile, who became more and more lenient towards me as time went on. I started to actually regret my actions thanks to Estella, and I think that I may have helped her as well, which may sound a little arrogant to just say that. When I first met her, she spoke in a British accent, which I thought sounded too forced to be real. Over a month or so, she began to use her own French accent more, which she must have adopted when she was in France. I began to think that maybe the therapy wasn't just for me; maybe she had an even darker past than what she told me at the beginning. I tried not to think about it, but I couldn't help asking one day.

"Did you commit crimes before Tomber?"

She paused for a moment, trying to word her answer, but I assume she found it worthless. "Yes. I did."

"What did you do?" I asked, genuinely curious then.

"I would rather not talk about it, the only thing that matters now is that I would never do something like it ever again," she said. Her dark eyes looked downcast. I reached out a tire to console her, which she accepted. I looked at her, and I noticed that she was trying not to cry.

"It's alright, I didn't mean to…"

"No. It's hard for me to forgive myself even now. I might as well tell you: I killed someone—my father. When he made the whole family move, I didn't want to go. I had plenty of friends in England. I held the new job against him, and then when I got older, I…" her voice cut out in a sob. I comforted her as best as I could, but there wasn't much I really could do except to be there for her.

"You regret it now, though. That's what matters; it's what you told me when we first met. You're letting him live on in your good works here. It's not your past that matters, but your future."

"You passed."

"What?"

She cheered up almost immediately, "What I told you just now wasn't true; you have to remember, I'm a deep cover agent—I have to be good at acting. I may have had a checkered past, but I would never kill my own father for something as trivial as moving for a job."

"What does this mean?"

"You passed the test. It was a test to see whether you remembered the ideals I taught you and applied them. It means that you do care for others, even if you don't believe it yourself," she said with her brown eyes shining, "You've moved up a clearance level."


	5. Chapter 4: Promotion

**A/N: This is the chapter that brings us up to where the prologue began :). After this, it's going to be in the third person because of what's going to happen. Just you wait :-).**

I eventually learned that the CHROME agency operates on a basis of clearance levels, designed for potential spies that need to prove their worth in a process of 3 steps, the first being a prisoner. I was now a clearance level 2, which enabled me to go from my room to the training dome without escort. I was also allowed to participate in practice missions, which I found enjoyable, until the past week or so when I found that I kept facing the same cars: Grem and Acer. McMissile and Holley would never tell me why they were there, but I knew there had to be a reason.

I sat in my room for a while, contemplating and staring out of the window, which was level with the grass in the landscaping in the front of the building, when Estella came in.

"What are you doing here?"

"I can't explain, but you need to come with me right now." I followed her out of my room and down a hallway to a door, which was opened when she scanned a card she had. The only other building outside of there (that I was allowed to enter, anyways) was the mechanic, which I had just visited the other day to replace a spark plug. She led me to another building, which seemed to be set up much like the mechanic. I was placed in the first room this time, and McMissile drove in to meet Estella. The door slid shut and McMissile told me what was going on.

"I know I told you that you didn't have the clearance level to know about Grem and Acer, but there has been a change of circumstances. First of all, they're alive. Some truck saved them at the last minute from being pounded to death. Second, they're plotting something else, but we don't know where they are or what they're doing. That's where you come in," he nodded to Estella to continue.

"You've already been promoted to clearance level 3, which is a fully instated spy. You are going undercover to help us uncover their plot." She thought she was finished I presume, but McMissile stayed silent, "Oh, I guess I can tell you now. Deep cover agents normally don't have partners, but I have a tendency to break, so they normally put me with someone just in case. That someone, for this mission anyways, is you. It works both ways, as well. I know I'm stating the obvious, but you tend to break down, too. It's a safety precaution."

"How am I going to go undercover? Everyone knows who I am."

"No one knows that you've been here, Axlerod," McMissile explained, "The public thinks that you're in jail, so in a month or so, you're going rogue."

"I'll be with you the whole time, too," Estella reassured, "I have enough of a criminal background to be in prison, so I'll join you when you 'escape,'" she smiled.

"But why am I here right now? Wouldn't you just want to send me out there to defeat them as fast as possible?"

"You recall when I first brought you here that all cars here are armed to some degree. Enhanced, if you will, to protect from hazardous conditions," McMissile told me. Estella had already left the room, so I could tell where this was going, "since you are going to spend the rest of your life as a spy, it's required that you have some sort of permanent form of protection. This is the weapon installment facility, and I only have a few minutes before they come in, but I will give you an idea of what you'll have at your disposal when I come back. Good luck."

_Good luck?_ I thought to myself, slightly frightened. The doctors came in one by one, one pulling a trailer of metal and glass. The lead doctor asked me to unlock my doors.

"I don't think I have doors…" I said, confused.

"Yes, you do. Most cars forget about them because they're not used anymore, but you certainly do," the doctor reassured.

I finally figured out how to unlock, and my driver's side was popped open. The doctor consulting me told me that there was a key to my consciousness next to my steering wheel. I was going to have to be dormant for a while, and he said that it was the least dangerous way to achieve it. I heard a clicking of metal rubbing against metal from within me, and all went blank.

I was there, but I couldn't do anything. I couldn't see or feel, but I could hear to a degree. When I heard about 5 days pass, I started to get worried. Day eleven brought a shatter of glass from the front, followed sequentially counterclockwise throughout the day. On day 15, I heard the clicking sound and I was back. I opened my eyes, but my vision seemed to be off, as with everything else. McMissile came in a minute later, chuckling at how disoriented I probably looked.

"It's alright, just try not to move until I explain. The reason why you were given all of that dead weight at the beginning of your training is because our weapons specialists determined that you would get more use out of defense than offence. You're armored now. It's one of the most complicated forms of defense we have available. The best part about it is that once you get used to it, no one will ever be able to tell that you're different. I just got the specifications a day or so ago, but I believe you're plated with 3000 pounds of dense ballistic steel, and 2 inch bulletproof glass, which would impact your vision until you get used to it. It's more than the original weight, so they replaced your shocks and brakes with stronger ones to compensate. They were going to replace your engine block, but they don't make anything that would have fit you, so you'll just have extra strain…"

"Until I get used to it, I know," I replied, annoyed. Everything felt heavy, and it was hard to concentrate on anything after being 'asleep' for 15 days and not being able to see the way I was used to.

"Correct. I have to tell you one other bit, but it would probably be better if we left this place first," he looked a little nervous, like he didn't want to be in the building. I could just imagine what he had to go through there after what happened to me, so I agreed and started my engine, which almost roared, which was a pleasant change from the ordinary.

I followed him to the other building and into the training dome. It wasn't all that hard to get up to speed, but when I tried to brake I practically flipped myself. I noted that I'd have to be more careful with that.

"What I was going to tell you earlier was that you don't just have the armor. You have one weapon: a stun gun. It shoots a projectile of almost pure electricity and will stun any car it hits. It's in your right headlight whenever you're ready. You're staying here for another fortnight or so, so you have plenty of time."

**A/N: So, how was that? That was the last of first person for now, and the next chapter is when it gets interesting :). **

**Just a fun fact about Axlerod's armoring: it exists in real life. I saw on HowDoTheyDoIt they make armored SUV's that look completely normal for anyone willing to pay for it. The downside, though, is that it can take over a month for the heaviest armoring, which can total to over 2.5 tons added weight, so I sped it up here.**

**Reviews are awesome :).**


	6. Chapter 5: The Escape (3rd Person!)

**A/N: Yay! Third Person! I've been looking forward to this chapter for a while now :). (Also, I used google translate for Zundapp, so don't hate if I got anything wrong there :P) Now, reviews!**

**Christine317: I didn't know that :P. That shows how up-to-date on politics I am… :P**

**Gemini Artemis: He's one of my favorite characters, too :). I just never saw him as evil, really, so I kind of wrote this to make him a good guy. He may appear in another story of mine, but I haven't decided yet if I'm going to use him or another spy.**

**To my one guest reviewer: Thanks for saying that you like this story :). I haven't gotten many reviews before this story so it means a lot to me :D.**

**Hope you guys like this :)**

Miles spent his final two weeks at CHROME relearning how to drive and when to use his stun gun, which drained his battery immensely when it was used. Finn had insisted that he work with Estella to learn how to act, so they met once a day to cover that, though they never did much. They plotted their "escape" route in the final days. The night before they were to go to the prison they were going to start their journey, Estella helped Miles learn the protocol when it came to communication with the agency, which was to just leave it to her. He would most likely be in a position of leadership once they reached wherever the lemons were hiding, so she would be more able to send messages and information. His job was to just keep her in the loop with anything and everything that occurred within the group in charge. Their tires were spray-painted orange and they were escorted to the prison. Guards surrounded them into their respective cells, Estella being guided to the female section and Miles to the male section. Before they were locked up, they both U-turned and slammed through their wall of guards, which was easier for Miles because he was larger and heavier. Estella was dented up, but she was alright overall and managed to escape. They met up at the exit gate, where they were both shot at, but Estella made it out the gate before the guards could shoot at her. Miles was shot when he was trying to get out of the gate, but it just left a scratch on his paint, giving him confidence that the armoring was worth it.

They drove off-road, in the hills surrounding the isolated penitentiary, Estella leading for most of the first part of their escape. The sun sank into the pink and red horizon, and they made camp in a small grove of trees. They both were unnaturally silent as they watched the sun set.

Estella fell asleep, as the escape and battle earlier was too much for her little Pacer engine. Miles watched her quietly. The moon gleamed, illuminating her dark blue paint which would have made her vanish into the darkness otherwise. He couldn't sleep, so he stood guard for the whole night, his thoughts racing about what will happen when he finally met the criminals he used to call his friends.

His internal clock said one-thirty when he saw red paint shine off the light of his headlamps. It began to move closer, following the light, so Miles turned them off and drove back over to Estella and woke her up.

"It's one-thirty, what's going on?" she asked, sleepily. The red car drove over the hill, causing her to jump slightly, "Oh,"

It hadn't seen them yet, so Estella stayed close and Miles turned on his headlamps again, causing the car to move closer to them. He appeared to be a Gremlin, and he looked almost relieved to see them.

"How did you break out?" he asked Miles in a hushed voice when he got close enough.

"I have my methods. There's no one out here but us, you don't have to speak too quietly."

"Alright. My name's Cecil. I was sent out here to see if I could find you when we got word you broke out," he explained, then looked at Estella, who had been silent, "Who's your friend?"

"Pacer, Estella Pacer," she jumped in, speaking in a better British accent than she had at the agency.

"She took the opportunity in the chaos to escape as well," Miles clarified, "I doubt there are any others."

"What did you do to get time?" Cecil asked her.

"Illegal parts dealing."

"Well, you'll certainly be welcome where we're going," he replied, "we always need connections to things like that."

He motioned for them to follow him, and they drove for the rest of the night until they got to a small hill. They drove around to the other side, where there was an inconspicuous key pad. Cecil put in a code, and a trap door opened from the side of the hill. They drove through to reveal a maze that looked almost like a regular building, and into a large room that seemed to be the central meeting room. Grem and Acer were waiting at one side of a large table, talking to each other about something, when they saw Miles drive in. They greeted him happily, and Acer told him everything that had happened while he was gone.

"Grem was more hurt than I was, so I kept the lemon families in England that weren't captured until he could be repaired. Professor Z was arrested, but he escaped when the tow truck drove off because McMissile followed him. He's hiding in Ukraine, and he's actually going to teleconference tonight. He has a new invention that you might like," he grinned evilly.

"Thank you, Acer. I believe we need to prepare for this teleconference, am I correct?"

"Yes, Axlerod," Grem replied gruffly, and then drove over to the corner of the room and pressed a button that sounded a buzzer, which caused lemons of all shapes and sizes to stream into the room, including Estella, who was mingling with the other lemons, feeling at home with others of her kind. At that moment, there was a chime and the projector on the ceiling lit up with a picture of Zundapp Janus who was a little too close to the webcam.

"Grüße, Zitronen Kerl. Wie Sie wissen, haben wir mit dem vorherigen Angriff geschwächt worden, aber wir..."

"You realize not many people in this room speak German, Zundapp," Miles said sarcastically.

He looked somewhat annoyed, and then responded in English, "Hello, Axlerod. I see you've escaped from prison. They didn't allow 'electric' cars there, apparently," pointing out that Miles had been changed back, something that the other lemons didn't feel the need to acknowledge, "As I was saying, I shall translate what I started to say before. Greetings, fellow lemons. As you know, we have been weakened with the previous attack, but we have not been defeated," the lemons cheered, "And now that we have Miles Axlerod back, we will be stronger than ever. I have created a new weapon that shall be the downfall of the CHROME agency. It tracks their GPS locators, which have a unique signal that can be found from anywhere. This weapon is a satellite that sends an intense beam of gamma radiation, which reacts with the GPS device, causing it to expand and then explode. When the GPS is turned on, this weapon will automatically fire at them, killing them instantly," he looked positively crazy. Miles didn't realize that Professor Z was as maniacal as he now saw, "The earliest I can launch it from this location without detection is in three days, so we will have to remain in hiding until then-"

"No, we don't," Miles emphasized, "Lemons should never have to hide because of what they are. If you are not wanted in this country, feel free to go about your business."

"Yes," Professor Z clarified, "Just be prepared to rise above all in two days. This meeting is adjourned." The projector blinked off, leaving an empty silence in the room, followed by overjoyed cheers for the return of their leader, who smiled as if he had nothing else to look forward to.

He waited for the crowd to die down, then made a short speech, "Thank you for this lovely welcome back to this wonderful organization," he said smoothly, "but, before any of you leave, I must bring up a matter of security: there is a spy among us."

**A/N: Cliffhanger! :). Reviews make chapters get written faster :).**


	7. Chapter 6: Good and Bad News

**A/N: Yay! Fast update! I've had a lot of homework recently, so I'm going to take the opportunity of a 3-day weekend to update as much as I can :).**

**Reviews-**

**Gemini Artemis: That would be awesome if you would! I read it a while ago, before I even had a FanFiction account, which is what gave me the idea for this :P. Axlerod redemption fics should be totally be a thing in this fandom *gives you a high five*… I'm going to change my summary after I finish this chapter to incorporate that idea :).**

**Christine317: Muahaha! *evil grin* You'll see…**

The room was filled with commotion at the accusation that someone was not one of them. Estella looked almost hurt, but Miles continued with his announcement.

"You realize that there was only one of you that was taking notes, and that one is Cecil." Several lemons drew their guns and aimed at the red Gremlin, "That won't be necessary," he said, causing them to disappear, "I'll deal with him personally in a minute. Make sure he doesn't go anywhere. You are dismissed."

Most of the lemons exited the meeting room, except for two that were guarding the exit and Estella, who had stayed in her spot at the table. Miles dismissed the guards, who took to guarding the outside. The door slid shut. Estella immediately started scanning the room for cameras, but there were none. She nodded to Miles.

"Alright, we know who you are, so you don't need that disguise anymore. Deactivate it." There was a flickering of light which changed the gremlin to a silver BMW.

"How am I going to die?" he asked shakily, which made Estella smile a little.

"A Volkswagen Carmen Ghia has no radiator," Miles replied, making the car go wide-eyed.

"It's kind of complicated how he got in," she gestured to Miles, "but we need your help now. I assume you're from the American division?"

Cecil nodded. Miles continued where Estella started, "You're going to spread the word to all of the spies here and in America in 3 days, Estella should be sending you the coordinates to the CHROME facility, but do not turn on your GPS. Find a map when you get out of this place, then go. You need to do this as fast as possible if what's going to happen is going to be stopped. Now, how well can you play dead?"

Miles pushed Cecil, who could actually play dead very convincingly, to the exit without anyone seeing but the security cameras. Once he was out, Miles went back to the meeting room where Estella was waiting.

"Do you want to go outside and get some air?" he asked her.

"Sure." They drove to the main exit, where a Hugo was guarding. He looked inquisitive, but didn't say anything and opened the door for them.

They drove until they were far enough away from the bunker where they could talk without risk of being overheard.

"Nice call back there," Estella said, "I didn't even notice anything different about him."

"He seemed different than the others in there, almost kinder. When he started taking notes on Zundapp's invention, I knew that he had to be a spy."

"Good observation. I think the next step now would be to try and sabotage the machine before it can be launched."

"It's in Ukraine."

"Good point. Any other ideas?" she asked, sarcastically.

"Actually…" he whispered something to her.

"Why… that's genius! Almost foolproof," she smiled, "I'll contact headquarters."

…

The Gremlin guarding the entrance to the bunker drove to the meeting room and pressed the all call button, bringing all of the lemons into the room for the second time in 24 hours. They were all complaining about having so many meetings, when Acer pressed a button to call Professor Z, who came onto the projector, looking annoyed. "What is it now?"

"He's gone out with that new Pacer for a while."

"Excellent. The 'backup' plan is functional and ready to implement. Have you confirmed your suspicions?"

"Not yet," Grem replied, "it's very likely though."

Acer jumped in, "He doesn't seem to be completely on board with the plan."

Grem nudged him with a tire, "We get it, now shut up," Acer backed up a little, letting Grem speak.

"He's just been acting different, and he's been hanging around that Pacer a lot, too. She 'escaped' at the same time he did. Would he really let her follow him?" Grem explained. Professor Z raised an eye and then chuckled. "Alright, he may have an explanation there…" which made the whole lemon group laugh.

"The satellite is in position. Do not tell Axlerod about this until after you find where his true intentions lie."

"If he is a threat?"

"He can be the first victim," Professor Z smiled evilly and then blinked off the projector.

**A/N: Sorry if this was a little short, but I may not have much time to keep writing this in the near future, so I'm giving you guys an extra chapter ahead of time. Reviews are amazing :).**


	8. Chapter 7: Capture

**A/N: I guess it wasn't so much of a hiatus like I thought it was going to be… I think I'm going to have to change to updating on weekends only because of homework :-/. Look for updates on Saturdays or Friday nights from now on :P.**

**Reviews:**

**Thepopstar27- I guess it's pretty obvious now, isn't it? :P. I'm just going to point out that while it is the main pairing, and it will grow and possibly change as the story goes on, this story is NOT going to be pairing-centered, which is why I did not make it a pairing on the story itself, and I'm going to keep the fluff to a minimum, if at all. I may write another one with this pairing, but it's just a maybe as of this point, as I have two other stories that will probably be written first (more on that at the end)**

**Christine317- That was my favorite line to write :), and no, not this time, but it could also never happen in the course of the story… you'll never know unless you read … muahaha! :D**

**DodgeSuperBee- Just wait on that plan of Zundapp's … it gets better and better :). I just want to point out (like I said in another review response) that Axlerod is one of my most favorite characters out of the movie, and I guess I found him as sort of an enigma, so I kind of wrote this to solve it and it's turned into something unlike anything I've ever written before :D. Thank you for the wonderful compliment on this story :) hope you like the rest of it!**

**Hope you guys like this!**

The lemon group sat quietly in the room while Grem plotted the next course of action. He figured that the best way to capture Miles would be to gas him for a short period of time, and then bring him back to the bunker for questioning. Acer agreed with him, so he took one other lemon and a gas grenade and went to track him down.

Meanwhile, Miles and Estella were sitting on the hill they had picked earlier to finish their plan watching the sun set. It was strangely quiet, with only the wind rustling through the leaves on the sparse trees in the forest. Miles allowed himself to sink on his tires slightly, probably not even realizing that he was.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Estella asked him.

"I don't know if I'm being recorded by CHROME or not, so I probably shouldn't."

"As far as I know, you're—"

"And if you're lying?"

"It's my job. You're a real agent now, why would I lie to you?"

"Just tell me if they're recording this or not," he said with pleading in his voice.

"No, they're not. They outfitted you with the minimum amount of weaponry they could to get this mission completed as fast as possible. Also, they just record official information. They consider it a waste of storage space to record personal lives."

"Have you ever felt like… they have a point? The enemies, I mean," he said, staring into the horizon, which was turning a darker and darker blue, "It all depends on how you look at it. I've seen both sides, and even I don't get it. The lemons, us, it's not our fault we're like this. No one would ask for this. The other cars, and even the agents at CHROME, don't understand that. They haven't had to suffer like them, like us. That's their weakness. I used that to my advantage for such a long time, it's hard to imagine that I'm on _their_ side now."

Estella paused for a moment and then reversed to look at him, "That's why they have us. No, they have never had the humiliation we had," the Pacer said quietly, "but they know that, too. The other cars aren't perfect, but what always makes them win is that they find their weaknesses in their attack strategy and they fix them as best as they can. All cars break, Miles, just not all in the same way. The reason why we're fighting the lemons is because they don't understand that. They think all cars should break the way we do, so they try their best to make it…" she stopped talking to listen to the wind.

There was something else in the trees. She turned on her headlights and caught a glint of yellow paint. Acer. She nudged Miles, and he slowly backed up to face the direction she was. He caught the slight shine of the paint and he quietly activated his stun gun, ready to fire. Acer must have seen this, because he came out quietly, and Miles fired, leaving Acer collapsed on the ground. They both released a breath they didn't realize they were holding, and Estella smiled at Miles, as if to say 'nice shot,' when she looked down to see a red ball with perforations throughout it. A sickly green gas began to escape from it, making the two lemons collapse into an unwilling sleep.

Estella awoke in a dark room. She couldn't move, but she felt restraints on her tires and something covering her mouth. The only place she could think of at the moment was that she was in a trailer of some sort. She attempted to radio for help, but it was broken. Of course. She thought to turn on her GPS, but she stopped herself at the last second before risking her life against the satellite, just in case 3 days had already passed.

Miles awoke in a bright, openly spaced room, surrounded on all sides by poles that his tires were tied to. He struggled to escape, but it was no use. Grem drove into the room with a few other lemons. "Alright, Axlerod, let's see what you're made of. Pop his hood," he commanded one of the other lemons. They obeyed to find that they couldn't open it because it was too heavy.

"Why do you want to open my hood?" Miles inquired.

"The more you protest, the greater your risk of dying," Grem said bluntly.

"Then, allow me," he said smoothly as he flicked his front upwards, opening his hood. He knew he was practically dead already, so why not make it a show? He knew his armoring and stun gun would prove he wasn't one of them anymore, but he surprisingly didn't care.

"Three batteries? Why do you have 3 batteries?"

"So I can do this," he said as he revealed and subsequently fired his stun gun at Grem, causing him to collapse. He tried to break the ropes securing him to the poles, but it was no use. He tried to stun another lemon that came to make sure he didn't escape, but his batteries were too depleted. He saw a door open, and in came none other than Professor Z.

"I thought you were in Ukraine," he said, pulling against the ropes.

"That was a lie, Axlerod. You realize that I have connections, and I heard about what CHROME was doing with you, so I created this to test if you were still on our side, but obviously you are not. The satellite is in position right now, and ready to fire."

"None of the agents have their GPSes on anymore. I sent out a message about this."

"How touching. That was a lie as well. It doesn't matter whether a GPS is on or not. The satellite pinpoints the dormant signal it gives out all the time. You just succeeded in confusing them," he clarified, then signaled another lemon to his side. "Bring out the demonstration."

A large, black 18-wheeler rolled into the room as the roof of the building slid open to reveal the sunlight. Professor Z pressed a button on the ground, making the walls of the trailer fall outward to reveal Estella, tied down and with duct tape across her mouth, looking petrified. Acer came in next, with some sort of remote. He passed it to Professor Z and then drove over to be closer to the trailer. "Such a pretty little Pacer," he said sarcastically, "it's too bad she decided to be a good girl."

**A/N: Cliffhanger! Anyways, I'm going to write another story, and I've decided that Finn is going to be the main character, but I was wondering if you guys would like Miles or Estella (or both!) to have a smaller part in it. All I'm going to say is there will be humans and cars, but not in the way you might think. It's not going to be like anything you've ever read before :D. If you do want them in it, I won't publish it until I finish this story, but if you don't, I may publish the first chapter or so, but this story will still be a priority. Let me know in reviews! **


	9. Chapter 8: The Bust and the Breakdown

**A/N: 10,000 word club! Here's the next chapter! I don't have any specifications for this one, so enjoy! Keep watching for updates on Saturdays/weekends in general! This cliffhanger was too good, so you get an early update this week :P. I couldn't bear it :P.**

**Reviews:**

**Thepopstar27- That was a pretty good cliffhanger, wasn't it :D? Thanks for the suggestion, too. I am going to put both of them in my other story now, but I sort have to wait until this one is done so you guys get it a little more :P.**

**Christine317- Yep… she really is in a pickle, isn't she?**

**To my guest reviewer (I don't know if there are more than one of you or what, so…)- Thanks for reviews! This story now has more than any other story I've ever written, which is so amazing because I thought this was crazy at first, but people like it! :P.**

Professor Z passed the remote from tire to tire, "Now, I did say that you were going to be the one to die first, Axlerod, but I have a better idea. You can watch your girlfriend die first and then I'll kill you," he grinned evilly.

Miles looked confused, "No, she's not my… oh, never mind," he said absentmindedly as he continued to pull at his restraints. Estella, still silenced by the duct tape, looked thoughtfully at Miles, who met her gaze with worry and then embarrassment. If her mouth wouldn't have been covered, she would have laughed.

Suddenly, metal from the roof of the bunker began to fall along with a shower of sparks. A car came from the hole that was cut, and it turned out to be none other than Cecil. He lowered himself using grappling hooks that seemed to come out of nowhere, and knocked Professor Z out. The silver BMW produced a blade from his wheel and began to cut the ropes securing Miles to his spot. "Hope you don't mind, but I got a distress signal from a certain Pacer whose radio cut out," he said somewhat sheepishly, but then yelled, "so I brought some friends!" Cecil then signaled for the backup he brought to come in, which consisted of Finn, Holley and four or five others. Cecil seemed to be the only one with a knife, so he freed both Miles and Estella while the others captured Professor Z and the other lemons. Finn stomped a tire on the remote, which shattered in an electric pile of wires and microchips, but it caused Professor Z to laugh.

"You have no idea what you just did, McMissile!" he screamed manically, "You will all pay for this!"

Holley tazed him to keep him from ranting, and then pulled up her computer. She locked it onto the satellite signal, "Finn! It's targeting everyone at once! Look, it doesn't matter whether you kept your GPS on or not, everyone's on here."

"That was what I was just going to say," remarked Miles, who joined her and Finn in the center of the room, "Is there anything you can get into to stop it?"

"The remote's damaged," she said with bitterness toward Finn, who was being uncharacteristically silent, "the security codes are too complex."

"Wait," Miles thought aloud, "Can you get the type of satellite?"

"It's a modified GPS satellite. Why?" Holley thought for a minute, then realized something, "It wasn't you that scrambled the satellites before, was it?"

"Oh, yes it was," he said quickly, "input the security code 467195A113."

She typed in the code, but it locked up, "No luck. There's a message," she paused as she decoded it, "it says… Nice try, Axlerod?"

"Seriously? I'm lost, then. That's supposed to be the standard shut-down code for all of the satellites related with GPS." He backed up slightly, in defeat.

Estella got a look of inspiration in her eyes, "If it's Miles-proof, that must mean that it has to be the one thing he would never think Professor Z would make a passcode. Input the code 0000000001."

Holley tried it, and the entire screen flashed green with the words, "SELF-DESTRUCT INITIATED"

"You did it!" Holley said, relieved, "How did you know?"

"Miles overthinks things. That and it was the number one most used self-destruct passcode in the CHROME newsletter last month."

"Good thinking, Estella," Finn said, smiling, then turned to face Miles, "As for you, that was excellent for your first miss—" he was drowned out by an explosion. Miles turned around to see that Cecil's engine was on fire and he was passed out.

The other agents surrounded him and managed to bank the flames, and he eventually came to for only a moment before a second explosion blew his trunk off and must have damaged something internally, because oil began streaming out from him and he lost consciousness. Finn finally made his way over to him and pronounced him dead, and told the other agents to salvage his black box and to call CHROME and the CIA.

"What happened?" Miles asked.

"They're working on it, but they think that Gamma radiation blew his engine, then reacted with his GPS chip embedded in his trunk."

"I thought we deactivated it," Estella looked almost horrified while trying to maintain her composure, but couldn't anymore, "May I be excused?"

"Absolutely." Estella drove out of the room, and Finn then turned to Miles, "Normally we make sure she's not working in situations like this," Finn admitted, "She's never able to handle it. I frankly can't blame her, though. It was a long time before even I could."

Miles was speechless and motionless, so the two vehicles watched the crews clear the wreckage in silence, but then Miles realized something, "What if there was no satellite in the first place? Perhaps this was all a trap."

"A trap?" Finn asked, "Why would they expect us all to be here?" he said as he heard another explosion from another part of the room. "Right. Get everyone out of here as fast as possible, I'll deal with any injuries," he ordered.

Miles guided the other agents out of the bunker via the emergency exit, but three were forced to stay behind because of blown engines. Finn tried to organize them into a line and push from behind, but he ended up taking them out one at a time to spare them more pain than they were already in. Holley had already radioed for ambulances, so they were waiting for them when Finn had evacuated all those affected.

When the last one was heading to the hospital, Finn drove over to where Holley was sitting. She noticed that his engine didn't have its classic purring quality, but it was rattling and almost struggling to stay functional.

"Finn? You don't sound so good."

"I'm fine," he said, trying to catch his breath.

"No, you're not." She scanned him, and realized that it was the radiation that was causing the problem. The intensity within the building had nearly doubled since the group had evacuated, and Finn had the nerve to go back three times to rescue the others. "I'm calling an ambulance. That radiation is making your engine expand with heat." She radioed CHROME, but they said that all the ambulances they had in reserves were sent out in the first wave. Holley felt Finn, and practically burned herself.

"Finn, turn everything off. If you get much hotter something really not good is—" She heard a crack and then Finn collapsed under the pressure that was building in his engine, hitting his undercarriage quite hard, making her wince. "Someone find either Miles or Estella!" she called out to no one in particular. She knew the other cars around her had first aid certifications, but she also knew that this wasn't standard first aid. "Estella?" she tried contacting her, "Is your radio functional?"

"Yes! Yes it is! I've been working on it for a while now. What do you need?"

"Finn's down. Scans show that he has gamma radiation exposure. His engine was overheating, and then there was a crack and he's not responding now."

"Is there any steam or smoke?"

"Not that I can tell."

"I'm on my way right now, just make sure he doesn't die. Is Miles around there?"

"I haven't seen him, I think he went to look for you."

"Does he have a radio?"

"Searching it now. Yes, he does, but he probably doesn't know about it."

"I'll try to contact him to see if he's any closer. What's his signal?"

"I'm already on it. Just get back here as fast as you can." Holley signed off, thankful that Estella was alright and that she probably wouldn't have to deal with this. The entire agency knew that Estella was not the one to call for medical situations, even though she knew the most about them. She always ended up handling them, but most could tell it taxed her nerves. She connected to Miles's radio, "Miles? Do you copy?"

There was a silence, and then some garbled static, "Why didn't you tell me I had this?"

"We were in a rush to defeat Professor Z, sorry…"

"What's wrong?" he asked with genuine concern.

"Finn's hurt. He was exposed to gamma radiation while getting some other agents out of the building. Where are you?"

"I'm close, I was just looking for Estella. She disappeared and I was making sure she was alright."

"I checked with her before contacting you. She's fine and coming back here to help. I don't know how long Finn has, though, so please hurry."

Miles had already made a U-turn, but stayed connected with Holley, "Why do you need one of us?"

"You have more experience with problems like this. The ambulance won't be here for a while, so we need to figure out what to do until then. Since you…break down much more than other cars, you might be able to figure out what's broken, so we can stabilize him until they can get here. I've already checked him and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong."

"I'm already on my way. Does he have steam or smoke?"

"No. That's funny, Estella asked the same thing when I told her. Why is that?"

"If he was steaming or smoking, that means that either he's on fire or something in his radiator broke. If he starts, pop his hood to clear it out and make sure he's not burning."

"Okay," she heard a loud noise from the radio, "Are you still there?" No response. "Hello?"

Miles heard Holley trying to connect, but he couldn't respond. Something had snapped in him and he was stuck in the middle of the road. No smoke, no steam, just broken. He tried signaling for help, but his newfound radio was broken, as well. He restarted his engine, but it sounded much rougher than it normally was. He figured a piston gave out based on the pain, but then how could he have restarted? He made it the last half mile or so back to where the other agents were, and saw the condition Finn was in.

"He's not still on, is he?"

"His engine gave out when he hit the ground."

"Ouch," he winced slightly, "Is he even breathing?" A rattle from the blue car answered that question, "His engine must have expanded too much from the radiation and heat. We can't do much but make sure he's breathing until paramedics get here."

**A/N: Finn is really very not good right now, is he? This isn't as horrible as the other cliffhanger, so I'll leave off here until next week. I think after this chapter I only have two or three more to go before it's over :(. I've enjoyed every second of writing this, and I sort of don't want it to end :-/. Reviews?**


	10. Chapter 9: The Rescue

**A/N: TWO chapters in one week so far? Sorry guys, the other story's been eating at me, so I want to finish this one… but I don't *cries* :(. I love this story so much, but I need to write (and hopefully finish) the other one before summer vacation… so yeah.**

**Also… I know almost nothing on how cars work… ironic, isn't it? So, if I fail at that part, just remember that it's a story. Hehe… I made a pun :P. This chapter was pretty difficult for me to write, so excuse grammar/slight OOCness… If I failed too horribly at anyone, let me know and I'll fix it :).**

**Christine317- It really does sound like it would hurt… a lot…**

"What do you mean there's nothing we can do?" Holley asked angrily, "I figured that since you're a _lemon_ you would know something that would at least help him until then." Miles cringed at the word lemon, but Holley emphasized it. She may not have been one to insult other cars, but he deserved it if he wasn't going to help her. That and she was practically panicking at this point.

Estella drove over the hill and over to where they were, "Is he any better?" she asked as she tried not to look at Finn for fear of what she might see.

"If _someone_ would have helped," Holley glared at Miles, "he probably would be, but he's not. Any ideas as to what could have broken?"

"It could have been anything if his engine was expanding…" Estella explained, "did he collapse before or after?"

"After."

"I hate to say it, but I don't know what could have caused that unless some wires broke with whatever cracked," Estella said sadly, "would you know where they are on him?"

"I'm pretty sure he's a custom, so they could be anywhere, but there is one place I could check," Holley said as she threw open his hood and scanned inside it, "I don't know why I didn't think of this before! It's his main wire in the back. It melted with the plastic around it."

"Do we have any spares?" Estella asked as Miles slowly tried to crawl away, unable to start his engine this time.

"No… unless someone would be willing to donate theirs for the time being to make sure he's alright."

Estella knew what Holley was referring to, "Miles? Why are you crawling away from us?"

He stayed silent and tried to start his engine quietly to cover up that fact, but he couldn't, creating only a horrid grinding sound.

"Bad piston?" Estella smirked a little, "Oh, Holley! I think we may have a willing donor," she was practically laughing, despite the dire situation.

Holley had already joined her with her taser out, "Come on, we just need to make sure he's alright, and he can't tell us without that wire."

"Why ME?!" Miles looked somewhat scared, and tried to back away from the two women,

"Because you're the only one not helping us fix him," Estella said matter-of-factly.

"Now, you are going to help us. The only question is if you're going to use the easy way or the hard way."

"I would prefer neither," Miles said as Holley fired her taser, knocking him out. Holley then popped his hood and used her robotic arm to grab the thick wire she needed. She removed the melted one from Finn and then connected one side of it.

"Finn? I don't know if you can hear me, but when I plug this in, DO NOT turn anything on," Holley said as she slipped the other part of the wire into its socket on Finn's engine.

He awoke with a start and then a small groan, "How did that happen?"

"Your main wire melted and you hit your undercarriage on the ground when you went unconscious," Holley informed him, "can you tell us what it was that broke beforehand?"

"I'm not quite sure. It feels like many parts all at once, as if several snapped in unison."

Estella was quiet as the car spoke, trying to relate to anything she had seen before, but she couldn't, "Finn, your injuries are probably too large to be repaired on the spot. It would probably be best if we just waited for that ambulance. The only problem is that you can't move until then."

"Shall we build a fire?" Holley asked, "They said it would be a while before they could come back out here to pick us up."

"Sure," Estella replied, and left to get some dead wood from the forest.

"Can you tell me how I'm even awake currently?" Finn asked Holley to break the silence.

"Mr. Axlerod was being uncooperative, so I electrocuted him and borrowed a cable from him?"

"That also means that I can't stay awake until assistance arrives, am I correct?"

"Unfortunately," Holley admitted.

"You need to give the cable back to him, then."

"Why?"

"He could probably help more than I could as of this moment, but without the cable he's useless."

"Actually, I'm fine," Miles jumped in, "If Holley wouldn't have electrocuted me, I would have given it to you."

"HOW are you awake?" Holley asked, shocked.

"I, frankly, have no idea. It might be a lemon trait," he shrugged **(If cars can shrug :P)**, "It doesn't matter much anyways, I can't really move or help you out with making a camp site, for that matter."

Holley had been listening, but she was somewhat sidetracked, listening to something on her radio, "You may not have to. An ambulance has been dispatched for Finn and should be here within the hour."

"How am I going to get back to the station if they're only sending one?"

Holley paused for a second, "I'll fetch Estella," she said quickly and then drove away.

"She forgot," Finn rolled his eyes, chuckling slightly, "You actually could probably make it back driving on your own, I believe."

"How could I manage that?"

"The same way you're conscious right now," Finn said, "It's another survival method most agents have now, at least I know Holley and possibly Estella do. If I'm correct, this means that you have an electric backup engine that is fully connected and can sustain you when your proper engine fails. That's quite ironic, actually," he said the last sentence almost to himself, smiling, but Miles heard it anyways, making him look annoyed.

"I guess I could see if that's the case," Miles said, trying to start his engine again, only to achieve the same result as before. He analyzed what had happened over the past day or so, and realized what Grem had said in shock after popping his hood. _Three_ batteries. He focused on that memory and tried to start his engine again.

Miles's engine, or backup engine anyways, sprung to life with a quiet electronic purring. He inched forward slightly to test it, and he felt as if it was more of a strain to move, probably because of the smaller engine and extra weight it had to carry.

"Well, what do we know? The electric oil baron is electric once again," Estella said with a smirk, following Holley out of the forest. Soon after their arrival, the ambulance arrived to collect Finn, and the three cars that could drive set off for the station.

**A/N: Ok, so that's pretty much the end of Miles's first mission :'(. I just had to make him electric again… that was way too good to pass up :P. There's probably going to be another chapter, but I'm not sure as of yet… I may need time to formulate it, or it may be the first chapter of Industrial Revolution II. I'm thinking that it's going to be a sequel to this, except it'll focus on Finn, but it's not the sequel I have planned. Thank you to all of those that supported me throughout this story, as it is the first that I've actually completed****. Reviews?**


	11. Chapter 10: Uncertainty and Epilogue

**A/N: This is the last chapter/epilogue *cries*. I don't want this story to end; it's been so fun to write, and while it may seem like a pretty bad story at times, it was partially off of a dream I had a while ago, and I just added bits and pieces here and there and it turned into this! Over 10,000 words of redeeming what I thought wasn't exactly the best villain and turning him into a pretty decent spy :P. This is my pride and joy right now, and I can't wait to continue it in a sequel, if I can. Miles and Estella will be in my next story, but only for part of it… so I hope you guys like this!**

**Christine317- You'll find out here!**

**RushandStreak (I'm going to respond to both of yours here, so…)- Thanks for the amazing compliments *blushes*. I love the A113 meme in the Disney movies, so I made sure it was in here at least once. And yes, you will find out here what happened afterwards and if Finn and Miles are okay. **

Finn had given out on the ambulance after being moved; they had resorted to a life-support system, which made him just capable of surviving the ride. He was rushed to the emergency room at CHROME when they arrived, barely even alive. The doctors were silent as they examined him, shocked at the amount of damage that had occurred in less than a second, and how he could have survived as long as he did. Practically every part in his engine had to be replaced, along with his missile-launching mechanism and one of his guns. Someone had already called in the parts, but it would still be a while before they were delivered, and CHROME only had a few parts on hand. The doctors replaced what they could, but it wasn't enough. They were forced the leave Finn on life support for almost two weeks until the extra parts were collected and delivered because of the sheer number of them he needed.

Periodically (almost constantly, but she would never admit it), Holley checked on him, peaking into his room, being greeted with the same dismal sight of a car on his last tire. Each time, it made her tank sink. He was the one that opened her up to working in the field, and had caused her to love every minute of it. She could never imagine working with anyone else besides him.

Miles drove into the building a couple days after the mission was over, admittedly because he forgot that he was using a backup engine and he ended up needing a jump start that morning—he had strained his batteries too much. He saw Holley checking on Finn, then quietly closing the door and almost trying to sneak away, she ran into him by accident.

"Hello, how are you?" she asked nonchalantly.

"Holley," he said quietly, "He'll be fine, I promise."

"How are any of your promises even worth anything?" Holley said. She had always been bitter to him since he was forced into the agency, which was unlike her, but seemed almost justified to Miles. After all, he did try to kill her at one point.

"If there's one time in your life that you ever trust me, it should be now. Finn McMissile will live to see another mission."

"How?"

"Call it a theory of mine," he said almost cryptically, "but cars were made to survive almost anything life could face them with."

"I hope you're right," Holley said, still not really believing him, and she drove out of the room.

When she left, Miles took a turn checking on Finn. He wasn't sure himself that what he said was true. When they had taken all of the broken parts out of him, Finn was a shell of himself, clinging to life with a large support system that almost encompassed him. Miles knew that he wanted him dead at first, but he had helped to give him a second chance; that was something he considered equal to saving his life. "You have to make it through this. Don't give up yet," he told him, though he probably couldn't hear it over the whir of the machines keeping him alive, if he was even awake. Suddenly, Miles's secondary engine died, meaning that he had run out of battery power. A doctor patrolling the hallways saw that he was stuck and placed him in the room next to Finn.

He heard the life support system through the wall while he was waiting; it made him shiver slightly out of doubt and worry. It didn't take long for a doctor to enter the room and essentially tell him what he already knew: he was functioning on his backup engine for too long, so he had dead batteries on top of the original broken piston. The batteries were a relatively quick fix, but the broken piston was another matter; the entire assembly would have to be replaced. He was stuck in the hospital for another day while the parts were being ordered, but they were delivered relatively quickly. Miles almost hoped that there would be some delay in the parts getting there, as if Finn's would get there faster if there was. The piston assembly was replaced the next morning, and he was released, feeling as if it never even happened.

Estella was much quieter than her normal self in the days that followed. She couldn't bear to visit Finn, but she desperately wanted to at the same time to make sure he was still alright. She had been moping for three days before Miles finally told her that he would go with her if she wanted to. "I'd love that," she smiled sadly, "Thank you."

They both made it to the hospital, but Estella stopped outside, "I don't know if I can do this," she said uncertainly.

"You don't have to!" Finn called out from the hospital doorway, making her eyes light up.

"You're alright!" she raced over to him, embracing him, and he returning the favor.

"Welcome back, Finn," Miles said happily as he made his way down the ramp, "Everyone was worried that you weren't going to make it."

"Nonsense!" Finn said with a lot more pep than normal, "I could never leave my friends. It would hurt me a lot more than it would hurt all of you."

"You consider me… a friend?"

"Of course," Finn said happily, "Why wouldn't I?"

"But… what about Big Bentley and the bomb and everything that happened before?"

"Everyone has their faults," Finn said, "which means it doesn't matter what happens at first. It's the second chance that truly determines character, which is why all cars deserve one. And," he said with a smile, "After this mission, I can honestly say that I'm honored to be friends with you. I look forward to working together in the future," he said, and then drove off to find Holley, leaving him and Estella in front of the hospital.

"How could he forgive me after all I've done?" Miles asked her.

"Finn is probably the kindest car I've ever met," Estella said, "He doesn't care much about the past, probably because it haunts him. He's lost so many friends, I doubt he wants to lose any more for any reason at all, so he makes as many as possible."

Miles was quiet for a minute, unsure of what to say, "Did you listen to the lie detector questions I was asked when I first came here?"

"There's a reason why I was the one to rehabilitate you. Why?"

"I was thinking about the last question about if I would participate in the Allinol scandal again if I could. The issue is that my answer hasn't changed. I would still have wanted to participate in it, because if I didn't, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to meet anyone here."

"That's not an issue," Estella said with a smile, "That's a change of heart. I was given a similar question at first when I had to take that test. At first, I said no, but then I realized that if I hadn't been in the black market, I wouldn't have met anyone that make up my life now."

They were both silent for a minute, watching the sun set into the horizon and the sky turn dark blue, the last glints of light shining off of the two cars. They turned to go back to the main station, when Miles remembered something he wanted to ask Estella, "There's a Disney movie coming out in theatres soon. Would you like to go?"

Estella blushed slightly, smiling, "I can't wait."

**A/N: That's all, folks! Keep an eye out for Industrial Revolution II in the archive soon! Thanks for all of the reviews on this story and the favs/follows :D**

**-Moviegirl44**


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